How to choose your pet’s name & Nicknames for Pets
I am always intrigued by how people name their pets. Both what these names are and how the name was chosen. There are all sorts of ways to choose a pet name including:
Ease of use
Two syllables rather than one is meant to be easiest to call. Try it. A short one-syllable name such as Max is often lengthened to “Ma-ax” when calling. In fact choosing a name that you don’t feel embarrassed calling is often a good check. As a side note: Max is consistently one of the most common dog names.
Place names
Does your pet remind you of a place or did it come from a place. My cat Clyde was my first pet in Australia and was named after a Scottish river – to remind me of home.
Fashionable names
Perhaps your name for your pet came from a rock star or soap actor. My cat Mew was named after the pokemon (by my son) which probably tells you exactly when we got her. Our previous cat Maisie was named after a children’s book character Maisie from Morningside.
Names based on looks
An easy solution to the naming debate is to name your pet based on his physical characteristics. Take my cat Ginger – (named by another son) what colour do you think he is? And then there is Leo, our large Maine coon who, when he’s not recovering from paralysis tick attack, has a mane like a lion. (Again, Leo was named by my son. I have a lot of sons and a lot of cats!!)
My previous dog Cherry‘s name was also suggested by my son. Cherry was a liver-spotted Dalmatian, her spots were like ripe cherries. Actually his first suggestion was Peter Pan – not quite sure where that one came from but it didn’t stick (phew!)
Names based on personality
It can often be beneficial to wait a few days before naming your pet to get to know his or her personality. Our current dog Chilli is red-ish in colour so her name fits her looks but it fits her personality ever better! A red hot chilli pepper. She is fiery, fiesty and fun! And like Cherry, we were sticking to the “Ch” theme and the food theme.
Then there are our ferrets Thunder & Lightning, aptly named for the weather conditions the day that we picked them up from ferret rescue but also reflective of their personalities – they certainly enter a room with a flash and a bang! However,when you have lost a ferret out in your backyard at 10pm at night and you are out with a torch calling “Lightning”, your neighbours tend to think you are a little strange! (Didn’t think of that one in naming my ferrets, did I?!)
Now my latest cats are Earth, Wind and Wildfire. Earth and Wind are brothers and Wildfire was just a little too wild, not to name him that!
In clients, I have come across 2 x Killer (both a Chihuahua and a Mastiff X), 3 x Diesel, 4 x Bella, Bacon, Cookie (food theme again), Lambchop (food or children’s puppet), Pikachu (same era as Mew!), Precious, Treasure and so many more.
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My current and last cat were both named after book characters - Stormy after Stormy Llewellyn in Odd Thomas, and Darcy after Mr Darcy.
Gypsie the Sibierian Husky got her name simply because we liked it and it suited her - and if you've ever seen a husky off-lead, then you'll know just how much she can live up to her name!
Woodstock the canary was named after Woodstock the canary in Snoopy. Very original and creative.
And Charlie the betta was named by my 3yo son - he was named after Charlie the canary at his kindy, as well as Charlie from the show Charlie & Lola!
I named my first cat. She was the semi-official stray that had lived on the gated estate I moved to all of her very long life, occasionally moving in with one of the residents but fending for herself when her 'owners' died (it's a retirement estate). She decided to move in and, not knowing what anyone else called her, I named her Thingy. No reason. It just seemed right. When she died, I adopted a young rescue cat who actually chose me. She had already been given Poppy as her name so I stuck with it.
Love your pets' names Melissa and how they were chosen. Thanks for sharing :)
My first Poodle was named Popcorn by the breeder, Poppy for short, so we called her brother Peppercorn, Pepper for short, when we got him a yaer later. They are both black, it just seemed to fit.
Every rattie I had or bred, was given the same name in a different language, "My Darling", the first two, Macoushla (Irish) and Habibi ,( Arabic)
"Hoodie" is short for Hoodlum. the boys figured with a mother Named "Veto" and a father named Cuno she would be a Hoodlum . She certainly lives up to her name. Her registered name (she is a rottweiler) is Ch Nowstarin Hundinnen Eine Nusse. Translated from german to English is Now Starrin Bitch with Nuts (balls) LOL
My dogs names are Detroit and Diesel. Named them after a make of Truck motor. :)
My cat Prince was named after my favorite singer.
We have Irish names as the dogs are Irish breeds. We have Shaemus, Nellie and Ciara.
Coco and Barney because we decided to adopt them after a trip to Paris and New York
After a kitty followed me to a party i was asked, "so, girl or boy?", i flipped him over and "WillY" became his name. After the obligatory stay at the RSPCA and a big dose of cat flu he came home with me, where i realised how awkward the name Willy could be... lol